Evansville IceMen

Evansville IceMen
founding	2008
resolution	2016
history	Evansville IceMen 2008–2016 Jacksonville Icemen since 2017
Stadion	Ford Center
Location	Evansville , Indiana
Team colors	black, blue
league	All American Hockey League (2008–2010) Central Hockey League (2010–2012) ECHL (2012–2016)
Rod Davidson Cups	2009/10

The Evansville IceMen were an American ice hockey franchise based in Evansville , Indiana . The team played in its eight-year history in the All American Hockey League , the Central Hockey League and most recently in the ECHL until the 2015/16 season . The IceMen played in the 11,000-seat Ford Center . The venue offered 8,800 seats for ice hockey games.

history

The franchise was founded in 2008 as one of the four founding members of the AAHL. The partner team were the Fort Wayne Komets from the International Hockey League .

On February 14, 2009, the Evansville IceMen set two records. On the one hand they defeated the Chicago Blaze with the highest AAHL result with 24-4 goals, on the other hand their goalkeeper Kira Hurley achieved a scorer point as the first female goalkeeper in the history of professional men's ice hockey. In the 2009/10 season, the IceMen secured the AAHL championship with a win in the playoff series over the West Michigan Blizzard with the Rod Davidson Cup .

In July 2009 the International Hockey League announced the inclusion of the Evansville IceMen in their league. An exact time was not given as this was dependent on the completion of a new, larger stadium in Evansville. In June 2010 Evansville was accepted into the IHL and, after its merger with the Central Hockey League , took part in the CHL's game operations from the 2010/11 season.

In August 2010 Richard Kromm took over the duties of head coach and general manager. In their inaugural season , the IceMen finished last in the Turner Conference with 55 points and were the worst team in the league. The best scorer within the team was Nicklas Lindberg with 69 points. With Jeff Christian , Mario Larocque , Jeff Nelson and Damian Surma there were four players in the squad who had played in the National Hockey League in the course of their careers .

In the 2011/12 season , the IceMen played their home games in the 11,000-seat Ford Center , the opening of which was set for November 2011. Previously, the Swonder Ice Arena , which held 1,500 spectators, was the team's home venue. Evansville City Council approved the $ 127.5 million project in December 2008. In August 2011, Ford secured the naming rights to the Evansville Arena for ten years and invested around 4.2 million US dollars.

In May 2012, the team was finally accepted into the ECHL for the 2012/13 season . In the 2013/14 season, the IceMen cooperated with the Columbus Blue Jackets from the National Hockey League. For the following 2014/15 season, a cooperation with the Ottawa Senators was entered into.

During the 2015/16 season, all negotiations between the franchise and the city of Evansville for a new lease for the Ford Center failed. As a result, owner Ron Geary announced the team's move to Owensboro , Kentucky , in January 2016 . In return, those responsible for the city of Evansville announced in February of the same year that a Southern Professional Hockey League franchise would take the place of the IceMen at the start of the 2016/17 season . Another month later, the ECHL confirmed the move of the IceMen to Owensboro, whereby the team will not start playing until the 2017/18 season in order to allow enough time for renovations at the new venue. In September 2016 Geary announced, however, that the renovations to the arena ( Owensboro Sports Center ) would be significantly more complex and expensive than originally thought, so that the final decision was made against the purchase and relocation of the team to Owensboro.

In February 2017, it was announced that ECHL had agreed to move the team to Jacksonville , Florida . There the team runs from now on under the name Jacksonville Icemen in the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena .

Web links

• Team information on hockeydb.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kira Hurley Breaks Into Record Books ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ^ Evansville Icemen 2010 Davidson Cup Champions
3. ^ Evansville joining IHL ... at some point
4. ↑ centralhockeyleague.com, Central Hockey League Welcomes Evansville for 2010-11 Season ( Memento of the original from September 21, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ mlive.com, Former Muskegon Lumberjack coach Rich Kromm named coach / gm of Evansville Icemen
6. ↑ courierpress.com, Arena to be named Ford Center in $ 4.2 million deal
7. ↑ echl.com, Expansion Membership approved for Evansville ( Memento of the original from February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ Matthew Harding: BREAKING: Evansville IceMen Announce Move. thesinbin.net, January 19, 2016, accessed on August 13, 2016 . 
9. ↑ Mike Lawrence: Evansville will be home to the Southern Professional Hockey League franchise. courierpress.com, February 8, 2016, accessed August 13, 2016 . 
10. ↑ ECHL Approves IceMen Move to Owensboro. oursportscentral.com, March 14, 2016, accessed August 13, 2016 . 
11. ↑ John T Martin: IceMen won't play in Owensboro. courierpress.com, September 30, 2016, accessed February 9, 2017 . 
12. ^ ECHL approves IceMen Transfer of Home Territory to Jacksonville. (No longer available online.) Echl.com, February 8, 2017, archived from the original on March 10, 2017 ; accessed on February 9, 2017 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.